Tiger Woods' scorching 65 in Round 3 put him on the outskirts of contention.
Unfortunately, he could not keep his hot streak going when he returned to the course.
Woods carded a one-over 72 to go into the clubhouse in a tie for 18th place at six-under overall.
The former world No. 1 completed his third round early Sunday morning before playing a full 18 to close out the event. His streak of playing the back nine at the Riviera Country Club continued—he made the turn at two-under after going five-under on the back in Round 3—but things fell apart once he made the turn.
Tiger's final nine holes had almost nothing go right. Bad tee shots cost him strokes on Nos. 2 and 3. A bizarre miss from just over two feet out on No. 5 saw him go from a birdie chance all the way to dropping a bogey, at which point it was clear the round was off its rails.
He managed to play the final four holes even, but the stats tell the story of a round gone awry. The PGA's strokes gained metric shows he lost more than a stroke by missing makable puts alone, and he hit only two-thirds of his greens in regulation in the final round.
Fatigue was undoubtedly a factor for Tiger, who had to get up before dawn so he could be on the course and finish his third round. The Genesis Open conditions were trying for everyone, but this is where the difference between 43 and 33 can be insurmountable.
Tiger at certain points in Round 4 looked like he was just trying to play out the string and get off the course—unsurprising given the scattershot way this tournament played out and his own struggles.
On the bright side, this is a far better result than when he was teetering on the cut line early Saturday. Tiger has no history of success in this event; he's now winless in his 12 appearances at the Genesis Open.
"It is certainly a love-hate relationship," Woods told reporters Wednesday. "I love playing this golf course. I always have, I enjoyed playing up here when I was young with my dad. For some reason I've only played well here one time in the tournament. It's just one of those courses that, you have to hit the golf ball well. There's no faking it around this golf course."
The flash he showed early on in the third round is proof Tiger's peak is still in line with the top golfers in the world. At age 43, though, it's hard to expect any sort of consistency.
After a rain-filled first day at the Genesis Open, Justin Thomas and Adam Scott are tied for the lead through Friday's action at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California.
Both players sit at 10 under par before the second round was called due to darkness. Thomas was able to get through 12 holes in Round 2 while Scott played 11. Jordan Spieth didn't get a chance to start his second round but is in contention at minus-seven.
Tiger Woods also finally got on the course after being shut out Thursday, sitting at minus-one for the tournament.
Current Standings
T1. Justin Thomas (-10 thru 12)
T1. Adam Scott (-10 thru 11)
3. J.B. Holmes (-9 thru 9)
T4. Jordan Spieth (-7)
T4. Luke List (-7 thru 15)
6. Keegan Bradley (-6 thru 13)
T7. Jon Rahm (-5 thru 13)
T7. Si Woo Kim (-5 thru 10)
T7. Vaughn Taylor (-5 thru 10)
T7. Scott Langley (-5 thru 10)
T7. Tony Finau (-5)
T7. Patrick Rodgers (-5)
T7. Kramer Hickok (-5)
Full leaderboard available at PGATour.com.
The tournament got off to a rough start Thursday, with officials deciding to reset the scores in Round 1 after about an hour of play. Players got back on course after a seven-hour delay, with Jordan Spieth earning a share of the lead.
Spieth continued his solid play with two more birdies in his final four holes of Round 1. This put him in good shape going forward:
He didn't get a chance to begin Round 2, though, which means it could be a busy weekend for the three-time major winner.
"I've had to play 30 holes, 36 holes in a day a couple years ago and it can be very taxing here," Spieth said after his round, per Rex Hoggard of Golf Channel. "It's tough, it's spongy ground, it will wear on you a bit if you're not careful. It's all about trying to save as much energy as possible more than anything else."
Meanwhile, the rest of the field made moves while he was in the clubhouse.
J.B. Holmes shot up the leaderboard and finished Round 1 in first place thanks to his hole-in-one on No. 16:
He ended up getting to minus-nine, one stroke off the lead.
Still, the biggest battle at the top was between former major champions Justin Thomas and Adam Scott, who continued to play well despite rough weather conditions before the horn finally blew at 5:26 p.m. PT.
Only a double-bogey prevented a perfect first round from Thomas, while his putting helped him post low numbers. This continued into Round 2 as he excelled in all phases:
Scott was even more consistent, totaling 11 birdies and just one bogey in his 29 holes played in the first two rounds.
While these players are in great shape, there will still be a lot of competition with more than two rounds remaining.
Bryson DeChambeau sits six strokes off the lead but had some of the best shots of the day, including this eagle on 17.
Woods played 30 holes Friday and finished one stroke under par, with seven birdies and eight bogeys and one eagle.
The players will once again have to make up ground in a modified scheduled Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. ET.
In sports, "splash" can represent many things.
In basketball, it might mean Steph Curry has gone off with another barrage of threes.
In golf, at least Thursday, it meant Ben DeArmond was hitting another ball into the water.
DeArmond, a pro at TPC Treviso Bay in Naples, Florida, hit six balls into the drink on No. 2 during the first round of the 2019 Lecom Suncoast Classic. He hit his tee shot into the water on the 491-yard, par-four hole, and then proceeded to knock his five subsequent shots into the water before eventually settling for a 17.
"I've learned nerves are a real thing," DeArmond said, per the Associated Press. "I had a great range session, felt good going in, and it was just an out-of-body experience on that hole."
DeArmond finished the round with a 91, though he did bounce back nicely. The club pro parred 10 of his last 11 holes.
"If you learn anything from me today, it's don't withdraw, don't give up, have fun with it," DeArmond said. "It's a game. Everybody has a bad day, a bad hole—even the worst hole of your life. So you have to move on."
Despite the brave public face, one wouldn't blame DeArmond if he skipped out on the showers after his round Thursday to avoid water as much as possible.
Play was suspended due to darkness in the final round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Sunday.
Phil Mickelson leads the tournament at 18 under, while Paul Casey owns a share of second at 15 under.
Mickelson and Casey each have two more holes to play. Casey still has a par putt on the 16th green to make before heading to the 17th tee. The PGA Tour announced play will resume at 11 a.m. ET.
Here's a look at the top 10, with the full leaderboard available on PGATour.com.
Pebble Beach Pro-Am Leaderboard
1. Phil Mickelson (-18) thru 16
T2. Paul Casey (-15) thru 15
T2. Scott Stallings (-15)
T4. Jason Day (-13)
T4. Si Woo Kim (-13)
6. Scott Langley (-12)
T7. Kevin Streelman (-11)
T7. Brian Gay (-11)
T7. Lucas Glover (-11)
T10. Max Homa (-10)
T10. Michael Thompson (-10)
T10. Chris Stroud (-10)
T10. Scott Piercy (-10)
The television cameras caught Mickelson and Casey discussing with tournament officials whether they were going to stop play or attempt to continue playing despite the sun falling at Pebble Beach. Along with the actual golf, the ongoing back-and-forth between Mickelson and Casey made for a compelling viewing experience.
The weather didn't cooperate Sunday, with a hailstorm causing a lengthy delay and leading to the suspension. According to the San Francisco Chronicle's Ron Kroichick, the storm itself only lasted 10 minutes, which was more than enough time to cause chaos. The hail-soaked greens made for a surreal scene.
That caused things to get backed up even further after rainfall overnight forced tournament officials to start the final round an hour later than planned. As a result, there was little chance the entire field would complete the round before darkness would become a factor.
Nobody will be more disappointed about the suspension than Mickelson, who was rolling Sunday as Casey slipped down the leaderboard.
Casey held a three-shot lead over Mickelson through 54 holes, with Lucas Glover and Scott Piercy tied for third and four shots back.
His round began well enough as he birdied the second hole to move to 16 under. Casey remained stuck there for the remainder of the front nine, though, which opened the door for Mickelson. Back-to-back bogeys for Casey on the 11th and 12th holes then dropped him into a tie for second.
Mickelson, on the other hand, slowly bridged the gap. He made the turn at three under and opened the back nine with a birdie on No. 10. The hole was a perfect example of how everything was breaking in favor of the five-time major winner.
His drive appeared to be hooking well to the right but still landed on the fairway to keep him on track for the birdie.
Mickelson opened up a little more breathing room on Casey with birdies on Nos. 13 and 14.
Mickelson basically has one hand on the title at this point, but the stoppage in play allows Casey to retain a sliver of hope. While the odds are slim Mickelson would throw away a three-shot lead in just two holes, it's not mathematically impossible.
Casey is probably the only golfer who poses a threat to Mickelson, though.
Scott Stallings went six under Sunday to move to 15 under for the tournament, thus putting him in a tie for second. Stallings has already completed his final round, so he'll have to sit back in the clubhouse while Mickelson and Casey finish up.
Brian Gay and Scott Langley share the lead at the 2019 Pebble Beach Pro-Am after shooting seven-under scores of 64 in Thursday's first round.
The duo is followed by a group of six golfers one stroke behind, highlighted by Phil Mickelson and Jason Day. Lefty had a historic day on the links, hitting all of his fairways for the first time since 1998.
“So history was made today,” Mickelson told reporters. “To the best of my knowledge it’s taken me 27 years and a few months to hit all fairways in a single round in a competition. I may have done it before, but I don’t ever recall doing it.”
Mickelson made 17 of his 18 greens in regulation as well, with only his putter coming back to bite him a little bit. His 32 putts were enough to keep him a stroke off the lead.
“It was a really solid round, good solid start, and we had beautiful weather and the golf course here is in spectacular shape,” Mickelson said. “You’ve got to drive the ball well to be able to attack, and I drove the ball very well today, obviously. I putted very well too. My speed was off. I ran a number of putts by, but I made a lot of them coming back and made a lot of short ones.”
Gay's stellar round was built on the back of a stretch of five straight holes with a birdie from Nos. 5-9. He hit 17 of his 18 greens in regulation to put himself in a position to win his first tournament since 2013.
"I’ve always enjoyed this course, so it was nice to come out here and play a good one,” Gay said.
Langley has never won on the PGA Tour but put together one of the best rounds of his life Thursday, hitting 12 of his 13 fairways in a smart, controlled round. He finished with nine birdies against two bogeys.
Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson lead a group of nine golfers who are tied for ninth place at five under. Spieth played his back nine at five under and went even par on the front.
Johnson, the top-ranked player in the field, overcame a shaky start off the tee to record six birdies against just one bogey. No other top 10 players entered the event this week.
Two late birdies allowed Rickie Fowler to hang on for a two-shot victory over Branden Grace at the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Fowler started the day with a four-shot advantage over Matt Kuchar. His worst single-round score coming into Sunday was a 65. With such a comfortable margin of error, the California native had a lot of room to work with.
Instead, Fowler gave two shots back with a double bogey on No. 5. He appeared to settle in with four straight pars and a birdie before things fell apart on No. 11. His triple bogey gave Grace an opening to briefly take the lead before settling for second place.
Here's what the final leaderboard from TPC Scottsdale looked like, via PGATour.com:
1. Rickie Fowler (-17)
2. Branden Grace (-15)
3. Justin Thomas (-14)
T4. Matt Kuchar (-12)
T4. Chez Reavie (-12)
T4. Bubba Watson (-12)
T7. Sungjae Im (-11)
T7. Gary Woodland (-11)
T7. Chris Stroud (-11)
Here's what each of those nine players will make for their weekend of work, via Golf.com:
1. Rickie Fowler $1.278 million
2. Branden Grace $766,800
3. Justin Thomas $482,800
T4. Matt Kuchar $293,466
T4. Chez Reavie $293,466
T4. Bubba Watson $293,466
T7. Sungjae Im $221,283
T7. Gary Woodland $221,283
T7. Chris Stroud $221,283
The weather at TPC Scottsdale led to a lot of bad scores on Sunday. There was light rain throughout the day, and temperatures were in the mid-50s.
Fowler's 74 was the worst final-round score by a winner on the PGA Tour in five years, per ESPN Stats & Info:
Looking at the top of the leaderboard, Grace and Chez Reavie were the only players in the top four to finish Round 4 under par.
Grace began the final round in fourth place at 13-under par, seven shots behind Fowler. His best stretch of the day included back-to-back birdies on No. 12 and 13 that gave him a one-shot lead.
The tense back-and-forth battle for the top spot took a turn when Grace was on No. 17 and Fowler was on No. 15. It started with Fowler hitting his second birdie of the day to even things up. Grace responded by hitting his tee shot into the water:
Grace took a bogey on the hole, dropping him one shot off the pace. He nearly put his tee shot on No. 18 into the bunker before settling for a par putt.
Another birdie by Fowler on No. 17 gave him more than enough cushion on the final hole to earn his first win since the 2017 Honda Classic.
There was some controversy on the 11th hole regarding Fowler's triple bogey. After he took a drop and went to examine the green, his ball rolled down the bank and back into the water, resulting in a one-stroke penalty:
After being made aware he was being penalized, Fowler was clearly unhappy with the ruling:
Fowler's late surge wound up making that moment seem insignificant, but for a time it looked like that was going to cost him a chance to win.
Reavie was the biggest mover among players who finished in the top seven. His final-round score of 68 was tied for the second-lowest of the day. It elevated him eight spots into a tie for fourth place, his second top-five finish in five events this season.
The victory is a huge step in the right direction for Fowler after having just six top-10 finishes in 20 tournaments last season. His final score on Sunday can be chalked up to the weather and a fluky incident on the 11th hole.
As long as Fowler is able to consistently repeat what he did in the first three rounds, this may be the year he finally earns that elusive first victory in a major tournament.
Matt Kuchar leads the Sony Open by two strokes after Saturday play, as he shot a four-under 66 to move to 18-under for the tournament, which is being played at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.
Andrew Putnam shot a three-under 67 to move to second at 16-under, and Keith Mitchell tied for the day's low round with a seven-under 63 to take third at 14-under. Chez Reavie tied him with a four-under 66.
Here's a look at the top 10 and a quick recap, with a focus on the top four finishers through three rounds.
Scoreboard
1. Matt Kuchar: 63-63-66 (-18)
2. Andrew Putnam: 62-65-67 (-16)
T3. Keith Mitchell: 68-65-63 (-14)
T3. Chez Reavie: 65-65-66 (-14)
T5. Bryson DeChambeau: 69-67-63 (-11)
T5. Corey Conners: 68-67-64 (-11)
T5. Davis Love III: 67-68-64 (-11)
T5. Charles Howell III: 69-66-64 (-11)
T5. Dominic Bozzelli: 71-64-64 (-11)
T5. Brian Stuard: 66-69-64 (-11)
T5. Hudson Swafford: 65-67-67 (-11)
T5. Ted Potter Jr.: 66-65-68 (-11)
T5. Marc Leishman: 67-64-68 (-11)
*Full leaderboard can be viewed on the PGA Tour's official website.
Recap
Through 54 holes, Kuchar has just one bogey.
Near-mistake free golf is the reason Kuchar is at the top of the leaderboard, and that trend continued on Saturday. Per PGATour.com, the 40-year-old hit 71.43 percent of his drives in the fairway or green and earned an eye-popping 88.89 percent greens-in-regulation rate.
Kuchar also played in the Sentry Tour of Champions the week before, and that may have had something to do with his success this week. Jason Sobel of The Action Network spotted a trend for recent Sony Open winners:
Kuchar can't coast to the finish line, however, as Putnam is near the top of the leaderboard because of his white-hot putting. Sean Martin of PGATour.com provided some numbers:
The 29-year-old won his first tournament last season when he took down the Barracuda Championship.
Putnam will have to chase Kuchar and ward off another hot golfer in Keith Mitchell, who went on a moving-day tear. In addition, he's been destroying the par-three seventh hole:
The 27-year-old Mitchell looks like a rising star: He had four top-10 finishes last season, including a 19-under performance for third place at the AT&T Byron Nelson.
He shares third with Reavie, who had three eagle hole-outs on Friday:
Reavie has used those eagles to give himself a puncher's chance at a Sunday victory, but he also impressed on Saturday with his four-under round. Despite back-to-back-to-back bogeys from holes 11 through 13, Reavie survived thanks to seven birdies, including five on the front nine.
If anyone from the giant pack of fifth-place finishers can rise and challenge Kuchar, it's likely Bryson DeChambeau, who is on fire lately:
DeChambeau also set a career-best mark on Saturday:
He'll likely have to beat that mark to take down Kuchar, who looks like he's about to roll toward his 15th professional win.
Kuchar and Putnam will tee off at 5:20 p.m. ET Sunday. Golf Channel will provide the television coverage starting at 6 p.m. ET.
